Took the Bus To Valley Church Beach - Great Day

[LD Silver]

We spent the day at Valley Church Beach enjoying sand, sun and drinks. The Bar/Restaurant was called The Nest. A $20 bill gets you two chairs and an umbrella.  A bucket of 6 beers was also $20.  We did not eat there

 

 

 

One thing to note, there is a 1-2 foot drop off about 10 yards into the water.  We saw more than a few people stumble on their way in and out of the water. There were 6 ships in port, so it was crowded but you still had room to move about.

 

 

The interesting part of the trip was we took the bus to and from the beach. I’ve done it before, and it was easy.  It is about a 10-15-minute walk to the bus station and completely safe. Cost is $1.50 pp each way.  A taxi ride would have cost $25 each way.  When you compare $50 vs. $6 it is an easy decision.  Here's how you do it:

 

Walk straight down the St. Johns Pier and continue straight onto Nevis Street. About two blocks down make a right on to Market Street. Continue down Market Street passing Tanner Street, South Street and New Street in that order. Just past New Street the road forks. Stay to the right to remain on Market Street. The left fork is All Saints Road (this is the wrong street). The bust station is on the right. Just keep walking down Market Street and you cannot miss the Bus Terminal.

You do not buy tickets. Just look for Bus # 22 or ask someone. They will be glad to help you. We waited less than 5 minutes to leave. Cost was $1.50 each. Pay as you exit. I asked the driver to let me know where the Valley Church Beach stops was and he gladly obliged. The ride took 15 minutes and we made only 4 or 5 stops.

Just do the reverse for the trip back. Walk back to the road and wait for the bus.  We waited about 2 minutes for a bus to come along to take us back to town.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by LD Silver

[sofietucker]

We did exactly that last month and loved it. A wonderful day.

[Russ Lomas]

Those cabbies in the orange shirts are like blood sucking leeches.  Take a quick right to get to the back street and bypass the main drag where the cabbies latch on to you even when you tell them you plan to take the bus.  The bus is the best way around the island to lots of great beaches.

[TTEllis]

On 2/10/2019 at 12:28 AM, Russ Lomas said:

Those cabbies in the orange shirts are like blood sucking leeches.  Take a quick right to get to the back street and bypass the main drag where the cabbies latch on to you even when you tell them you plan to take the bus.  The bus is the best way around the island to lots of great beaches.

Yes, you have to make your way through a torrent of just endless cabbie's waving pictures of the island and the beaches trying to shove a tour in your mouth, what a nightmare. If you go straight up the middle OH MY, tight squeeze with all the vendors and just relentless cabbie's. 

When you take that step across the street, it's over. I keep my head down, go straight for the bus station up the street don't stop keep briskly walking and don't look back LOL!!! Hope that helps Todd

 

Don't look back just KEEP walking. 🤣

[Russ Lomas]

7 hours ago, TTEllis said:

Yes, you have to make your way through a torrent of just endless cabbie's waving pictures of the island and the beaches trying to shove a tour in your mouth, what a nightmare. If you go straight up the middle OH MY, tight squeeze with all the vendors and just relentless cabbie's. 

When you take that step across the street, it's over. I keep my head down, go straight for the bus station up the street don't stop keep briskly walking and don't look back LOL!!! Hope that helps Todd

 

Don't look back just KEEP walking. 🤣

Looks like I have to run the gauntlet up the middle if I go to the East bus terminal for #33 bus to Long Bay beach.  If we take the #22 from the West bus terminal, my research shows me that if you take an immediate right when getting off the pier across a wooden platform (bridge), you get to the street parallel to the main road.  We did this on our return trip to the ship last year and there was not a single cabbie on that back street.  I plan to take that route this time to avoid being hassled like last time.

[TTEllis]

No I was just making it adventurous, you can absolutely make the very first right towards the boats make a quick left and keep going straight up the street, to the bus terminal. I bought a couple of early morning brewskis at that store on the right with the glass refrigerators. Nice place. Cold beer and soda. Actually I bought a full blown Coke that didn't do it so I went back in and bought a couple of Caribe's it was a start anyway. 

That bottleneck right up the street, it's like we're being set up or something. I just don't get it.